HOFANS is open to all children in the community irrespective of tribe and faith, between the ages of 2½ years and 5 years. The school employs pupil-centred pedagogy to inspire confidence in every child. The vision of HOFANS is “To nurture in every child the curiosity to know, the love of Jesus Christ, the attitude of success, and the capacity to become a life-long lover of learning.” The mission is “Providing an exciting saintly learning and childcare experience which develops each child’s self-confidence and builds a foundation for life-long learning.”
HOFANS is founded on the 4th of January 2022 by Revd Fr Charles Ijeoma Egbon, MSP, a missionary priest from Nigeria, sent to serve in Holy Family Parish, Bowe, Kasungu. Two months after his arrival to Malawi, Fr Egbon glaringly noticed that over 90 percent of the people both young and old living in over 100 villages, parish-wide of Holy Family Parish cannot understand English. Although the Malawi Government mandates free primary education, the people are still less-educated because of low education standards. Many of the children are not enthusiastic to go to school. They are often introduced to primary school from age 6 without pre-literacy skills. They find learning very difficult as a result of less-developed cognitive capacity. The rate of children dropping out of school is very high. Illiteracy is at a very high level. A lot of the children are very disrespectful to their parents. A greater percentage of the children are not living with both parents. The children grow up without critical parental guidance. They become sexually active at an early age. Teenage pregnancy, early marriages, and failed marriages are rampant. Children are not able to develop the fundamental skills that they will need to grow throughout their lives. Christian devotional lifestyle is conspicuously lacking both in adults and children. Fr Egbon felt that there is a gap in the foundational formation of the local people. He thought of an institution that will assist the rural children to develop better pre-reading skills, good spoken English, stronger basic mathematics skills, sound social, psychological, moral, and religious mindset. He believes that a good catholic nursery school will give a good foundation to children and transform them into life-long lovers of learning. From 8th December 2016, Fr Egbon began to pray and seek ways to build a nursery school for the community. As the Parish Priest of Holy Family Parish, Fr Egbon sourced funds from the Pontifical Mission Society through the Catholic Diocese of Mzuzu. He also inspired the local Christians to contribute their farm produce which was sold to raise funds for the project, others contributed their skill and money. Although HOFANS has opened her doors to the public, development activities are still ongoing. The immediate pending works, needing urgent attention include the completion of the nursery school building, kitchen, and toilet. Since the school hour begins at 7.00 am and ends by 3.30 pm, providing breakfast and lunch for the children has become a vital necessity. Many children in remote communities are willing to benefit from the school but are hindered by transport. The provision of a school bus to move children to/from their remote rural community will enable more poor children to access this life-changing opportunity. HOFANS is owned by Holy Family Parish, the Catholic Diocese of Mzuzu. She is managed by a board of management comprised of the curate of the parish who serves as adviser, a lay-faithful as the chair, and the head teacher/caregiver as the board's secretary. The current holders of these posts are Fr Joseph Kolade, MSP, Mr Solomon Phiri, and Ms Grace Nyirenda respectively. The Parish Priest tenuously oversees the school to ensure standards are maintained. He communicates relevant information to the diocese and the public. HOFANS teachers and caregivers are experienced, educated, and motivated to ensure that the vision of the school is realized. The staff and children are very excited to learn from one another. Why not rather partner with us, to feed, clothed, and educate the dependent, orphan, rural children in Malawi. You may assist in providing enriched-maize porridge and flour to feed the children and prevent malnutrition. You may construct desks and chairs for the children to sit and learn comfortably. You may complete the school block, toilet, and kitchen buildings to ease the inconvenience of the children. You may paint the walls with fun-educational pictures to attract the children to learn. You may contribute creative-educational materials to stimulate the curiosity of the children. You may provide a bus to convey the children from their dispersed-rural villages to the school. DONATE NOW
Donation account in Malawi:
Account Name: Holy Family Nursery School
Account No: 1008085001
SWIFT CODE: NBMAMWMW
Bank Name: National Bank of Malawi, Kasungu Branch,
P.O.Box 228, Kasungu, Malawi, Africa
